Carlos Tevez refuses to apologise to 'president of England' Alex Ferguson over 'RIP Fergie' banner

'It seems like he is president of England. You make a joke about him and you must say sorry,' says City's Argentine striker

Manchester City's Carlos Tevez has risked further infuriating his own club over the "Fergie RIP" poster which has earned him public censure from them, by ridiculing the Manchester United manager and refusing to apologise.

Tevez, whose decision to take the poster from a supporter and brandish it publicly led his club to apologise for his "error of judgement" said in an interview yesterday: "It seems Ferguson is the president of England. Each time he speaks badly about a player (and he has said the worst about me) I never asked him to apologise. But if somebody makes a joke about him, you must apologise to him. But I don't apologise. There's no relationship at all between me and Ferguson."

The banner, and City's response to him brandishing it, overshadowed coverage of the club's open-top bus tour of Manchester on Monday night. The meaning behind the banner could well be a reference to Ferguson's famous response when asked three years ago if United would ever be underdogs against City. "Not in my lifetime," he said.

Manchester United's Patrice Evra has said that the Luis Suarez racism row and the death of his own brother have made this his "most difficult season" at the club. The Frenchman's 42-year-old brother died of a heart attack in October, days after the incident with Suarez had occurred at Anfield and shortly before the 6-1 home defeat to Manchester City. "Before the [home] game against City, my dad called me and said I had just lost my brother," Evra said. "That's why I'm very proud of myself. I've been stronger mentally than ever because of the personal things that have happened to me this year. To keep going and to play every game is just amazing."

Evra also discussed for the first time Suarez's refusal to shake his hand in the Premier League match with Liverpool at Old Trafford in February. "I think it's the game in which I've had the most pressure in all my life. It was really difficult for me," Evra said. "Many people would never have tried to shake his hand. I did and he refused. People can criticise me and say many things, but this year I have been stronger than ever. Bad and good experiences happen. The most important thing is how you react and I think I reacted in a good way."

Tevez revealed he was about to the leave the bench for the dressing room when City began mounting the comeback against QPR that clinched the title in the last minute of the Premier League season. "It was a moment of madness, because City had to win the title and it was written [in the stars,]" he said. "What happened in those four or five minutes of injury time was impressive. For a minute I thought that the title ran away from us and I was just ready to go to the dressing room. Then [Edin] Dzeko scored a goal and then was the goal of 'Kun' [Aguero] and it was madness."